Erick Silva paid win bonus despite disqualification loss

As fantastic as the festivities were on Saturday night in Rio de Janeiro for UFC 142, one of the few incidents marring the evening’s excellence had to do with referee Mario Yamasaki’s uncharacteristically bad call relating to a bout between Erick Silva and Carlo Prater. Silva dropped Prater early in their main card clash, then pounded him out for what looked to be a clean stoppage until Yamasaki ruled he felt illegal blows to the back of the head had done the damage and disqualified Silva as a result.

“Everyone here knows that wasn’t intentional. I don’t know what else to say,” explained Silva after the call, while Prater’s take was fairly neutral, saying, “I’m not a judge. I didn’t stop the fight. All I know is that he hit me and it sent a shock of pain through my body unlike anything I’ve ever experienced. I don’t know if the shots were legal. I just know it was unlike anything I’ve ever felt.”

However, it turns out the story has a happy ending as Silva will be paid a win bonus as a means of making things relatively right. The young Brazilian also has an opportunity to appeal the result internally as the UFC regulated the event based on the region’s lack of athletic commission.

The loss snapped a nine-fight winning streak for Silva who impressed fans in August with an equally quick TKO of Luis Ramos at UFC 134. Currently he holds an overall record of 13-2 with ten total stoppages.